Admirals Cruise Past Rebels 8-0

March 07, 1991|By JAVIER SOLANO Staff Writer

NORFOLK — The Hampton Roads Admirals couldn't have asked for a better homecoming. After a three-week, eight-game road trip, they found a crowd of 8,475 fans and the Roanoke Valley Rebels waiting for them at Scope. Both were hospitable to the extreme Wednesday night.

Roanoke Valley's futility this season against the Admirals reached new depths in an 8-0 loss. Hampton Roads, which clinched the East Division title last week, is 7-0-2 against the Rebels this season and 8-1-1 in its last 10 games.

Dave Flanagan scored three goals and had one assist. Harry Mews added one goal and four assists. Victor Gervais scored one goal and had two assists. And goaltender Dave Gagnon, making his first start at Scope, made 17 saves in one of the easiest shutouts of his life and a club-record third for the Admirals this season.

``It's tough when you get four or five shots on goal,'' Gagnon said, ``but when you get none or one every six minutes, it's a little easier. I'll take that every night.''

It was a game the Rebels almost had to win if they hope to make the playoffs. Instead, they were left taking three misconduct penalties in the final four minutes of the game and jostling with the officials on their way off the ice. Roanoke Valley lost its fifth consecutive road game and has only four games left to make up four points against Erie in the race for the final playoff spot.

The Mews-Gervais-Flanagan line has hit a torrid stretch of efficiency since Gervais joined the team two weeks ago. The trio accounted for five goals against Roanoke Valley. Mews has scored at least one point in 13 consecutive games. Gervais has 14 points in six games with the team. Flanagan has eight goals and three assists in his last six games.

``Vic is the added ingredient,'' Mews said. ``We seem to know where each other is on the ice. And Flags has just been finishing everything. ... He's a big, strong kid with a good touch around the net.''

``We have lots of speed on that line,'' said Flanagan, who notched his second hat trick of the season. ``They're real keen with the puck. It makes my job a lot easier when you have guys like that on your line.''

The Admirals fired nine of the game's first 10 shots on goal and scored on one of them - Flanagan's 20th goal of the season on a rebound of Rick Boyd's shot from the blue line at 5:40 for the only goal of the first period.

Roanoke Valley was thoroughly outplayed in the first 20 minutes, which was the most competitive stretch of the game. Hampton Roads outshot the Rebels 37-8 the rest of the way and turned the game into a rout.

The Admirals scored three times in the second period. Mews tallied his team-leading 27th goal at 5:52 on a rebound of a right-point shot from Al Murphy. Murray Hood circled the net and fed Kent Hawley for a tap-in from the crease at 11:45. Fifty-six seconds later, Flanagan took a third whack at a rebound, and it sailed into the net past busy goaltender Bill Horn for a 4-0 lead.

Gagnon turned away the Rebels' two best scoring chances of the night in the period, foiling Greg Neish's attempt from the crease and making a blocker-pad save on Wayne Muir's attempt to finish off a two-on-one.

The Gervais line clicked twice more in the third period on goals by Gervais and Flanagan, both assisted by Mews. In between, Glenn Kehrer and Hood scored their 27th and 21st goals of the season to make sure that there was no repeat of the last meeting between these two teams - in which Hampton Roads squandered a 5-0 lead before winning in the final seconds on Brian Martin's goal. There would be no comeback.

Defenseman Greg Bignell was scratched out of the lineup with a separated shoulder. He is questionable for the three weekend games.